In Thursday’s New York Times, there was an article titled; “Frazzled Moms Push Back Against Volunteering ”.
The story briefly explained that many frazzled mothers were so tired of volunteering that they have simply begun to quit.
My first thought, after reading the article, was that the church needs to take note.
There are so many times that the church becomes a source of stress rather than a source of peace. Volunteering in church is essential–to growing as a Christian and the church accomplishing its mission. However, when most of the work is being done by a small few—we are abandoning our responsibility to care for the people.
Church leaders have the responsibility to nurture the Christian through life. This responsibility is abandoned many times because “the fields are white with harvest, and the workers are few.” The problem lies when we run our people in the ground and have less people to work the harvest than we started.
Frankly, churches should intentionally limit the amount of work to one ministry that they will allow a member to do. First, we will not burn these precious people out. Second, we will have ten times the quality of work for each particular project. Third, the people can support the other ministries—not by their work but participate through their attendance—like Sunday School or a special concert. Doing this they can focus on bringing friends.
What if we can’t do a ministry because we don’t have the people? Either cancel the ministry, or cut other ministries to compensate. Sometimes ministries take less work than others. That’s ok—at least you know that it will be done well.
We are in danger—if not already suffering the effects of over working our workers. Sometimes it is good to “sit and soak” in a pew to rebuild a well that has run dry. The church needs to be a place that will minister to the needy—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The person should never be required to do anything except that which is required of all believers—“to not forsake the assembling of other believers.” We shoot our wounded when we require much more.
As a church, this article helps us to understand the hazards of over-volunteering—on the person and the organization.